We flew into Puerto Rico after traveling first through
Dallas, then to San Juan, PR. Our hotel,
the Doubletree by Hilton was about a 20 minute cab ride from the airport. We go to the hotel before 5pm, Puerto Rico
time, and after checking in and putting things away in the room, we took a walk
to check things out.
Next to our hotel there was a plaza with a few restaurants
and a Starbucks, and a main road that had several restaurants. Without checking things out online, we
selected Bebo’s Café, which looked to have authentic Puerto Rican food
(whatever that is!). I had Pechuga
Rellena de Amarillo en Salsa de Queso which was “chicken breast stuffed sweet
plantains with cheese sauce” which was delicious. Doug had some kind of stuffed pork which he
also enjoyed.
Sunday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, went to
Starbucks (of course!) and then called Uber to get a ride to Old San Juan. Our driver took us into Old San Juan, to the
top of the hill to Fort San Felipe which overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, and had
a ton of history. The weather was
beautiful, 90+ so we appreciated the shade that the fort provided as we
explored. There was a reenactment with
a firing of an old cannon, and several of the bunkers inside the fort were set
up with different artifacts.
When we came out of the fort there was a free trolley so we
took it down to the center of Old San Juan, and explored some of the stores and
decided that we would come back in the evening for dinner at least one
night. It was getting quite warm so we
Uber’ed it back to our hotel. While Doug
caught up on some work I took the opportunity to check out the pool area. Since it was off season by a few weeks, there was no problem getting a place in the shade.
That evening we ate near the hotel at Agarrate Catalina – Botegon Argentino.
Monday we took a bus to Old Town, and to the piers and took a ferry ride over to an island where the Barcadi Rum distillery was. The grounds are beautiful and we took a tour that showed the process of making rum. The tour also included a rum drink so we tried the Mai Tai’s which were delicious and refreshing on a hot day. When we took the ferry back to Old Town we stopped at Sr. Frogs for a late lunch. We took Uber back to hotel for pool time and a little catch up on work for Doug. Since we had a big lunch we just went next door to the hotel for pizza.
Tuesday morning we decided to take a walk so we stopped at Starbucks then started walking toward Condado, which was a hotel zone on the point, right at the bridge to Old Town. On our way we stopped at Blonda for breakfast, which was good, but expensive.
After leaving Blonda's we walked to the bridge, but by then it was getting quite hot out, so we took Uber back to our hotel. That evening we went back to Old Town and went to Barrachina’s which supposedly is where the Pina Colada was invented.. then walked to Raicies for dinner. It was highly recommended by a few different people, and was a fun place. We both tried the Mofongo (mashed plantains) but were not too impressed. Things good have been a little more spicy. Once again we took Uber back to hotel.
On Wednesday I got up and took a walk, and as I did I found a geocache.. I wish I had thought about it the day before as there were a lot hidden in and around Condado area. We packed up to move to Fjardo where Doug’s conference was at the Waldorf Astoria Conquistador Resort. We arranged with our Uber driver the day before to pick us up and take us for $60 which was a great bargain. Our other choice was going to the airport (taxi or Uber) to catch the shuttle which is $90.
Fjardo is about an hour from San Juan. We got there shortly after noon. The Waldorf is a huge resort hotel, in a beautiful location overlooking the Atlantic and the British Virgin Islands. The resort has 21 restaurants, 3 separate hotels within the complex, activities, etc. We were able to check in when we got there, so we went to our room then came back to get a bite to eat at one of the restaurants in the main complex. Although the weather up until then had been sunny and warm, there was a big thunderstorm when we got to the hotel. 
That evening there was a reception for Doug's conference, so I had a bite to eat at the pool restaurant Las Brisa and took time to just relax and read.
Thursday morning we went down for coffee at Starbucks and Doug headed to his meeting. I spent the day by the pool, ate leftover pizza from dinner the night before. That evening several of Doug’s colleagues went to …. Island, but he stayed back and we met up with Stan, one of Doug's colleague's. They chose the same restaurant that I had been to the night before. I had a quick bite then left so they could visit.
Friday morning once again went to Starbucks then I went to the pool for awhile, then walked around the hotel and looked at the shops. There also was a brochure with a map of all the beautiful artwork in the hotel. I enjoyed looking for and reading about each piece of art. After Doug's conference was over we went down to the marina on the lower level. To get down we took the "funicular", which was basically a cliffside cable tram, which rather than suspending from a cable, it was pulled up a railway.
The resort owns and island just off the coast call Palomino Island. On the island is a bar, gift shop and several lawn games or things for water sports. Unfortunately we took the last boat over and only had an hour to explore before the last ferry took us back to the hotel. We had dinner that night at Blossom's Chinese restaurant in the hotel, which was very good, with superb service.
In the morning we had a quick breakfast at one of the cafe's then took the shuttle to the airport for our flight home. We had a layover for a few hours in Miami so had dinner at Islander Bar and Grill. From there a long flight home.
I would love to go back to Puerto Rico. I feel like there was more to see in Old Town. The Conquistador Resort was beautiful too, however very expensive. We were able to use our Hilton points making it worthwhile.
During our time on this trip I binge watched "Transparent" and read the book "The Girl on the Train.
